Charles Poisot (7 July 1822 – 4 March 1904) was a French musician from the second half of the 19th century. A pianist, composer and musicographer, he was also director of the Dijon Conservatory, where he spent his life.

Biography

Charles Poisot was born in

Dijon Dijon (, , ) (dated) * it, Digione * la, Diviō or * lmo, Digion is the prefecture of the Côte-d'Or department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in northeastern France. the commune had a population of 156,920. The earlies ...

, but his family moved to Paris in 1834. He entered the

Conservatoire de Paris The Conservatoire de Paris (), also known as the Paris Conservatory, is a college of music and dance founded in 1795. Officially known as the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (CNSMDP), it is situated in the avenue ...

in 1844 where he studied piano with

Adolphe Adam Adolphe Charles Adam (; 24 July 1803 – 3 May 1856) was a French composer, teacher and music critic. A prolific composer for the theatre, he is best known today for his ballets ''Giselle'' (1841) and '' Le corsaire'' (1856), his operas ''Le pos ...

counterpoint In music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more musical lines (or voices) which are harmonically interdependent yet independent in rhythm and melodic contour. It has been most commonly identified in the European classical tradi ...

with Leborne and

musical composition Musical composition can refer to an original piece or work of music, either vocal or instrumental, the structure of a musical piece or to the process of creating or writing a new piece of music. People who create new compositions are called ...

with

Fromental Halévy Jacques-François-Fromental-Élie Halévy, usually known as Fromental Halévy (; 27 May 179917 March 1862), was a French composer. He is known today largely for his opera '' La Juive''. Early career Halévy was born in Paris, son of the cantor ...

until 1848. In 1850, he composed an

Opéra comique ''Opéra comique'' (; plural: ''opéras comiques'') is a genre of French opera that contains spoken dialogue and arias. It emerged from the popular '' opéras comiques en vaudevilles'' of the Fair Theatres of St Germain and St Laurent (and to a l ...

in an act, ''Le Paysan'', on a traditional theme mixing nobility and love (the libretto is by Pujol). He returned to Dijon in 1852 where he devoted himself to teaching,

musicology Musicology (from Greek μουσική ''mousikē'' 'music' and -λογια ''-logia'', 'domain of study') is the scholarly analysis and research-based study of music. Musicology departments traditionally belong to the humanities, although some mu ...

and composition, continuing his piano interpretations. In 1868, he was appointed Director of the Municipal School of Music, the future , and was elected a member of the

Académie des Sciences, Arts et Belles-Lettres de Dijon The Académie de Dijon was founded by Hector-Bernard Pouffier, the most senior member of the Parlement de Bourgogne, in 1725. It received royal ''lettres patentes'' in 1740. In 1775, it became the "Académie des Sciences, Arts et Belles-Lettres de ...

in 1869. He played an active role in the city's cultural life until his sudden death in his home at 4 Buffon Street at the age of 81. He had his works performed in the city, gave talks on the glories of Burgundy (sculptor

François Rude François Rude (4 January 1784 – 3 November 1855) was a French sculptor, best known for the ''Departure of the Volunteers'', also known as ''La Marseillaise'' on the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. (1835–36). His work often expressed patriotic the ...

, poet and playwright

Charles Brifaut Charles Brifaut (15 February 1781, Dijon – 5 June 1857, Paris) was a French poet, journalist, publicist and playwright. Biography A liberal royalist, Brifaut edited the ''Gazette de France'' and attended the salon of Madame Vigée-Lebrun. He als ...

and created a high level choir: "la Société des Dames". A street in Dijon bears his name. Jean-Philippe Rameau par Eugène Guillaume

A fervent admirer of

Jean-Philippe Rameau Jean-Philippe Rameau (; – ) was a French composer and music theory, music theorist. Regarded as one of the most important French composers and music theorists of the 18th century, he replaced Jean-Baptiste Lully as the dominant composer of Fr ...

, he began in 1860 with other Dijonnais ( Jules Mercier, Léon Gastinel, ...) a campaign to erect a statue in honour of the great Dijon composer of the 18th century for the centenary of his death in 1864. The affair dragged on for a long time and it was only on 12 August 1876 that the model of the sculptor's statue

Eugène Guillaume Eugene is a common male given name that comes from the Greek εὐγενής (''eugenēs''), "noble", literally "well-born", from εὖ (''eu''), "well" and γένος (''genos''), "race, stock, kin".Camille Saint-Saëns Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns (; 9 October 183516 December 1921) was a French composer, organist, conductor and pianist of the Romantic music, Romantic era. His best-known works include Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso (1863), the Piano C ...

. It was not until 1880 that the model was replaced by the final bronze statue (it was melted down by the Germans in 1942 and replaced by a stone copy in 1950). Charles Poisot collaborated in the publication of Rameau's works and produced numerous arrangements for piano and singing of his operas. He was also involved in the creation of the "Société des Compositeurs de Musique" (established in Paris in 1862).

Works

His musical work is quite abundant and varied, but it has not left its mark on the history of music. He composed opéras comiques early in his career (''Le Paysan'' in 1850), religious pieces (one cantata, ''Jeanne d'Arc'';

motets In Western classical music, a motet is mainly a vocal musical composition, of highly diverse form and style, from high medieval music to the present. The motet was one of the pre-eminent polyphonic forms of Renaissance music. According to Margare ...

; one

Stabat Mater The Stabat Mater is a 13th-century Christian hymn to Mary, which portrays her suffering as Jesus Christ's mother during his crucifixion. Its author may be either the Franciscan friar Jacopone da Todi or Pope Innocent III.Sabatier, Paul ''Life o ...

; one

requiem A Requiem or Requiem Mass, also known as Mass for the dead ( la, Missa pro defunctis) or Mass of the dead ( la, Missa defunctorum), is a Mass of the Catholic Church offered for the repose of the soul or souls of one or more deceased persons, ...

, three oratorios) and many piano pieces (exercises, arrangements, songs, melodies and fantasies), some in collaboration with

Joseph O'Kelly Joseph O'Kelly (29 January 1828 – 9 January 1885), composer, pianist and choral conductor, was the most prominent member of a family of Irish musicians in 19th- and early 20th-century France. He wrote nine operas, four cantatas, numerous piano ...

. He also wrote many texts on music, such as his brochure on Burgundian musicians in 1854 or his ''Histoire de la musique en France, depuis les temps les plus reculés jusqu’à nos jours'' (Paris 1860).

Musicology

''Essai sur les musiciens bourguignons, comprenant une esquisse historique sur les différentes transformations de l'art musical en France du IXe au XIXe siècle''
Dijon 1854, 56 pages.
''Histoire de la musique en France, depuis les temps les plus reculés jusqu’à nos jours''
Paris 1860, 384 pages
''Notice biographique sur Jean-Philippe Rameau publiée à l’occasion de l’anniversaire séculaire de sa mort''
Dijon 1864, 31 pages. *''Lecture sur les trois séjours de Mozart à Paris'' 1873

Texts on regional themes

*''Notice on sculptor François Rude'', 1856 *''Notice on Charles Brifaut'' (poet, journalist and playwright born in Dijon in 1781, died in Paris in 1857.) 1859 *''De Dijon à Rome et à Naples, notes de voyage d'un musicien lues à l'Académie de Dijon'', 1875

Compositions

Opéras comiques

*''Le Paysan'', 1-act opéra comique, 1850 *''Les Terreurs de M. Peters'', opéra de salon, 1856

Religious works

*''Agnus Dei'' for tenor and barytone. 1855 *''Paraphrase du Stabat Mater'': for Soli (soprano, viola, tenor and bass) and choir with organ accompaniment (reduction of orchestra) *''Le Christ''. Three-part Oratorio inging and piano Texts from the Gospels, 1882 *''Ave Maria pour mezzo-soprano'', 1883 *''Caecilia, légende sacrée'', 1888 *''L'Apôtre Saint Jean'', third oratorio. Texts from Revelation. 1895

Songs

*''Le Bonhomme Misère. Légende bretonne'', 1853 *''L'Amour'', 1860 *''Le Rêve à deux'', poem by

Marceline Desbordes-Valmore Marceline Desbordes-Valmore (20 June 1786 – 23 July 1859) was a French poet and novelist. She was born in Douai. Following the French Revolution, her father's business was ruined, and she traveled with her mother to Guadeloupe in search of fi ...

, 1868 *''Les Affres de la mort. Scène pour basse'', musical setting of poems by Théophile Gautier, 1868 *''La Bourgogne'', 1869

Piano music

*''Fleur de mai'', mazurka, 1875 *and many other

Arrangements

* ''Les Indes galantes'': heroic ballet in 4 concerts and 1 new entry by Jean-Philippe Rameau; reconstituted and reduced score for piano and vocals by Jean Philippe Rameau. Charles Poisot, after the original 1735 scored *''Hippolyte et Aricie'': lyrical tragedy in 5 acts & a prologue of Rameau; Reconstructed and reduced for piano and vocals by Charles Poisot. (1882) * ''Zoroastre'': 5-act lyrical tragedy by Rameau; reconstituted and reduced for piano and vocals by Rameau Charles Poisot. *''Platée ou Junon jalouse'': ballet comedy (bouffe) in 3 acts and a prologue by Rameau; Reconstructed and reduced for piano and vocals by Charles Poisot.Notice IdRef
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References

External links

Charles-Émile Poisot (1822-1904)
sur data.bnf.fr * {{DEFAULTSORT:Poisot, Charles 1822 births 1904 deaths 19th-century classical composers 19th-century French musicologists French Romantic composers Musicians from Dijon Pupils of Fromental Halévy Writers about music 19th-century musicologists